It actually improves with the AC on.

My mechanic had the idea of it being an electrical issue, also. He said that when the voltage dropped below 14v, the surging would start. I think the voltage drop was a result of the surging rather than the other way around, but I replaced it any way. No change.

I think that it's some sort of internal vacuum leak (if that's possible), or that the computer isn't reacting to the air intake volume correctly. Further details as they arise. Thanks for the support.

Its seems like the Towncars are in a problematic season. So many years of owning towncars and I have never had the problems I have been having with my current one. (nothing major, just annoying) I think my desperation on finally owning a Cartier pushed me to buy it. From day one I regretted getting this current Towncar just because it was the first time I was on the fence in buying a car. Usually I am completely 100% sure and with this one I was 50, 50 and bought it anyway. It has kind of grown on me but I am waiting to save up some money to sell it and buy something else.

Ah man, and I was just looking at buying a Town Car. Gonna keep my eye on this thread to see what it could be.

It's not common in the towncars. Like I said, I have had quite a few and never had an issue. After all, its a panther with all the same parts as the crown vics and grand marquis.

My next step is to check all the grounds. My neighbor's F150 was having starting issues, along with a surging idle and a few other issues, ended up being the ground strap between the engine and firewall had corroded and was almost gone.

I like the bad ground idea. I've seen a lot of problems in the past traced back to a bad ground. I'll check that out.

Please guys, don't condemn all Town Cars. Especially this generation. They look great, ride great, are extremely safe, reliable, and cheap to maintain.

I may be on to something here... I so much as looked at the ground cable between the rear of the engine and the firewall, and the end of its all like, "I'm gonna go over here". It fell off of the badly corroded cable. So 2 ring terminals, a foot of 10-gauge, some heat shrink, and plenty of curse words and its changed. Fair warning, the bolt it attaches to on the back of the engine is like the worst possible space to try and work with. Its a good thing I've got bony hands, otherwise the wiper cowl might have to come out. I think if I ever have to do another one, I'll just find a different bolt on the engine block, save myself the headache.

I'll update you guys as to whether its fixed or not after I drive it a bit.

I never shot down all towncars. In fact the opposite. I actually mentioned on my last comment that the minor problems I am having now have been the only time in my past 6 towncars.

Bigmerc, can you post some pictures of what you saw and did. It would he good info.

It still surges. All well, that ground was definitely bad anyway. Mine only seems to surge when the AC is on, so I'm still thinking electrical. Might try the bigger (and newer) battery out of the Mercury next since that's easy.

As for the ground I replaced, look just below the wiper cowl behind the passenger side valve cover, you'll see a braided copper ground strap. It goes from a tab on the firewall to the bolt for the DPFE bracket behind the head. Can't miss it.

anyone thought maybe the compressor is starting to slip/lockup

A few months ago, my '97 would stall out at intersections and drive thru's, whenever the car was stopped. People said that it was the IAC. I never changed the IAC, but the car has since stopped stalling. Don't know if this could be related, but trying to give some insight.


Kinda weird ..


& no, I will not be giving up on aero town cars or any panthers.

Yeah my towncar was stalling out like 4 months ago and I got a CEL. I changed the air filter, cleaned the throttle body, cleaned the IAC, cleaned MAF, changed fuel filter and added lucas fuel additive. It never did again and CEL has not come back. It actually stalled out the other day randomly when i got to a red light. This has happened with my 2 past 97's as well. It has never been a big deal since it does it every few months and it starts right back up. It's weird though.

I might just change the IAC since its pretty inexpensive

i suspect something dealing with fuel. I would be interested in seeing what the fuel pressure was doing while it was surging

I did a new fuel filter today, still surging.

I'm using the IAC, TPS, MAF, TB, Airbox and filter all from the Mercury, which didn't surge, and doesn't now with all the Town Car parts on it. Which officially rules out all the parts I'd usually suspect. Granted I can't really drive the Merc what with the bent frame and busted suspension, but it seems to idle fine.

IDK if its at all related, but the mechanical fan in the Town Car seems to run alot more than the Mercury's did, so I'll probably either delete it, or grab the one from the other car.